Reading Luke

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At the recommendation of my brother I’m reading Luke in the Bible. I’ve tried to read the Bible before but I always got stuck early on and never made it past Genesis. This time I asked for advice and I’m glad I did as reading Luke is proving to not only be easier but interesting as well.

Back in middle school I had a classmate that was the daughter of a pastor. We once got into debate about the authenticity of the Bible. As a nonbeliever I claimed that it was written by humans and was nothing more than a story at best. An attempt at manipulating the masses at worst. We went at it for awhile and then she asked me if I’d even read the Bible. Of course, I hadn’t. Why would I? Well, she said until I read it I didn’t really have a valid opinion on the matter. It made me pause. She had a very good point. So I told her ok, I will keep quiet on the topic until I’d read the darn thing. I’m pretty proud of myself for this response. I feel I exhibited a pretty reasonable attitude for a middle schooler. In the end, we never spoke about it again. I was too interested in Stephen King’s novels to do the work to read the Bible.

Well, now I’m finally doing the work. Or at least starting to. One of the passages that I underlined was: “And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Wow, that’s a lot of sinning and repenting and forgiving in a given day! It struck me as requiring a lot of patience and acceptance. More then I tend to show those that annoy me, let alone ‘sin’ against me. I’ll take it as directional guidance and do my best. If I fail, I guess I can always repent and ask for forgiveness myself. That’s the gift of it. If I can forgive, then I can also be forgiven.

What’s interesting to me is that the more I understand the nature of God. That His grace is free, no strings-attached, I can sin and repent as many times a day as I want and be forgiven, the more inclined I’m becoming to be a better person. It’s happening naturally, without effort. I feel at peace. My addictions and unhealthy thoughts are quiet. External temptations bead up upon my mind’s surface and shed off. The more I understand that I will be forgiven, the less I feel the compulsion to do what needs to be forgiven.

There is deep wisdom in this irony. I wouldn’t have come to this conclusion on my own. It makes me wonder whether my classmate was right. Perhaps, just maybe, these words were breathed by God. I’m not fully sure yet, but let me read on. Let me continue to seek, for if I seek, I just might find.

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Be well,

Monty

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